Thinking of Vegan

Hello fellow beings of planet Earth

Would anyone care to share any tips or recipe ideas on vegan foods?
I like to try different things. Am wondering what I can make or do with vegan foods that are tasty. Seeking inspiration.

Thanks

First thing, I would recommend getting your blood mineral and vitamin levels checked every few months, and if you are changing your diet, you should consult a doctor. There are general rules, but every person is different, and requires different levels of this and that. This goes for vegans and non vegans alike!

Secondly, do you mean vegan (as in pretty much no animal products what so ever), or a level of vegitarian (some still eat fish, or chicken, milk, cheese, honey shellfish but still eat mostly plants).

Lastly, learn to have a broad pallet. All people should eat a plethora of foods anyways, but for vegans, its better to do this moreso, because mixing certain plant vitamin and minerals in digestion can create proper amino acids and protiens that normally arent accessable though digestion of either or plant. Mixes of leafy greens, legumes, califerious veggies, squash, fungi (probably one of the best meat substitutes around especially in veggitarian lesagnea!). Again, if you meant vegitarian, then cheeses ar a good protien substitute as well. Honey is your best friend, so are berries.

The real thing is, food we get at the grocery store doesnt have as many vitamins and minerals as those grown at home. This is because farms usually have poor soil due to synthetic fetilizer and over tilling. Healthy soil means healthy plants

[LucidMoob]

Hey Natalia glad you are thinking of going vegan I went vegan four years ago and everything is going well so far...loads of energy, sharp mental abilities etc...basically I've not experienced any bad things from switching my diet!

When I first went vegan I start to indulge in the latest advancements in processed meat substitutes i.e. sausages, burgers, fishless fingers, chicken nuggets, sandwich meats, mince, turkey rolls etc. and I was really impressed with how good some of these are (some are rubbish and taste like cardboard lol). You can pretty much get a vegan substitute for everything these days, Vegusto cheese is amazing! But over the last couple of years I've stopped buying alot of processed foods and tend to go for much simpler foods like beans/legumes/lentils/tofu, my diet has morphed into a much simpler and organic thing.

I still eat mash potatoes, roast potatoes, potato wedges, chips, pizza, lots of wholegrain rice, some pasta etc. But my usual meals now would be rice and lentils or beans with chopped veg and some simple flavourings. I still have fishless fingers and chips once a week tho hehe, and currys/chillies.

My advice would be to try to add veg to as many meals as possible. There have been so many studies showing how bad meat and dairy products can be but none showing that veg are bad I have carrots, broccolli and red cabbage in most meals. So I would add these veg to a curry, chilli, spaghetti bolognese, stews, shepards pies, stir fry, risotto, salad, pasta bake etc. Obviously other veg are added if I have them ;-)

Overall then, these days you can tailor a vegan diet to whatever style you want. You can now be a vegan and eat no vegetables and live on chips and burgers. My advice for recipe ideas would simply be 'look for vegan recipes of your favourite meals'. Honestly, people say to me that my diets much be so limited now that I am vegan but the truth is that my diet is personally so much more varied now that I am vegan because veganism has introduced me to things that I never ate or heard of when I was a corpse cruncher, things like butter beans, adzuki beans, borlotti beans and red, green & brown lentils I'd never eaten before (OK so I had a sheltered upbringing)..and things like quinoa and pearl barley I'd never heard of...

Youtube has got many vidoes of people cooking vegan food, I would say experiment and take it gradually and see how you like it!

Good luck

[knightofalbion]

Good for you, dear Natalia. (Even Mike Tyson is vegan!)

Here are a couple of sites to start you off...

http://www.cookingforvegans.co.uk

http://www.vegansociety.com

[fire]

A wok of vegetables fried with a sause or plant oil with spice mix is always neat.

LOL Lucid - corpse cruncher . Not heard that one before. Thank you so much for the helpful advice and the laughs

Also thank you to the rest of you for your responses and I'll be sure to check out the links provided along with my own search for inspiration and ideas.

I am currently taking a course on nutrition from Vanderbilt and I think it is next week I get to study plant based diets. I think you want to include some legumes for the higher proteins and lots of healthy fiber, plus personally I love the taste and texture of beans and peas. The only thing maybe missing on a vegan diet is vitamin B12.

[Tobi]

Vegan shepherd's pie:
Boil and simmer potatoes cut small, in slightly salted water. Drain and mash.

Fry onions, garlic, eggplant slices and mushrooms in a little virgin olive oil. Add black pepper and when the veggies start to lightly brown, add soy sauce or Tamari, and a dash of water. Simmer until there is a little juice but not too much.(If there is a bit too much juice, thicken with some cornflour to make the juice like gravy.
In an oiled heat proof dish, put the veggies at the bottom, and the mashed potato on top like a crust. Bake or grill until the top is nicely browned. Then sprinkle with a 3 seed mix (something like pine nuts/sesame/pumpkin seeds) And toast gently -Keep an eye on it at this stage or it will burn!!
Serve with salad.